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thursday, September 25, 1980
lincofn. nebraska vol. 105, no. 24
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Union bakery switching to commercial goods
By Mary Louise Knapp
The Nebraska Union Bakery soon wfl replace its home
made goods with items produced by commercial bakeries,
according to union officials.
Union Director Daryl Swanson said the bakery's pro
duct ion facilities will close Nov. 20.
Swanson cited loss of money for the Union as the rea
son for the shutdown.
"We just were not selling enough products to warrant
maintaining our own production facilities, Swanson said.
The services the bakery now provides to students and
the hours it will stay open will remain the same, Swanson
said.
"This was a very difficult decision to make," Swanson
said. "We had to let some very good employees go."
As a result of the shutdown, three full-time bakers who
worked for the bakery will lose their jobs. Swanson said
he is working with the UNL personnel office to give the
bakers new jobs, either at UNL or elsewhere.
Swanson estimated that shutting down production fa
cilities would save $30,000 a year.
Ronald Pushcar, assistant union director in charge of
food services, said he had suggested to Swanson that the
change be made.
"I was in charge of a similar move with the union
bakery at the University of Nebraska-Omaha," Pushcar
said.
Pushcar said that changing the means of producing
baked goods at the UNO union had caused that union to
make a profit and save money.
"There will be a discemable change in the products at
the bakery," Swanson said. "Once we have established an
arrangement with a bakery-and we are not yet sure which
bakery or bakeries we will get supplies from-we will start
out with the same food we have there now, and then later
we may have different items brought in.
The UNL Food Stores Department, the central food
procurement center for the union and other UNL divi
sions, will be responsible for bringing in prepared bakery
items.
Swanson said he is investigating several different area
bakeries to find out which would be best equipped to
meet the union needs.
He said he did not involve the Union Board in the de
cision to close bakery production facilities because he
thought it was a managerial decision, and not one that
would affect service to students.
John A. Klein, a baker at the bakery for the past year,
said he did not think the problem was severe enough to
merit a production shutdown.
"We always had good business, and made the best stuff
in Lincoln-all homemade, Klein sail.
"I really don't know what the problem is, he said.
Klein said Swanson has been helping him and the two
other bakers at the union to get new jobs.
"They are trying to see if they can transfer us. We may
be able to stay with the union food services, 1 have been
looking around for another job, too, on my own, he said.
Erskine: NU system eases intercampus rivalry
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Photo by Kent Morgan Olson
William Erskine, NU's vice president for business
affairs, will leave NU in mid-November for a posi
tion at the University of Texas at 1 Paso.
By Betsy Miller
The administrative structure of the NU system "makes
sense said NU Executive Vice President for Business
Affairs William Erskine on Tuesday.
Erskine is leaving NU Nov. 15 to become vice president
of business affairs at the University of Texas El Paso. He
was asked to comment on the UNL Faculty Senate's re
solution last year to abolish the NU central administration
because it was too large.
Erskine said the present system provides UNO, the NU
Medical Center and UNL with their own chancellor and
staff and then combines all three campuses under the
supervision of an executive president and his staff.
People realized that if the three campuses operated as
separate systems, competition would probably develop,
Erskine said.
To reduce competition between the campuses, Nebras
ka citizens decided to create a university president and
systems office that would work for all three campuses, he
said.
"The structure of this university is one that was de
cided on by the people,, the legislature and by the re
gents," Erskine said. "For this type of organization, the '
administrative structure makes sense.
NU's organization is quite common at U.S. universities,
Erskine said.
Erskine's responsibilities at NU are to establish policy
in the three campuses' business operations, he said. He also
oversees the central computer system operation at the uni
versity. Erskine's position at UTEP is similar to his job at NU,
where he has been working for six and a half years, he said.
"I think that's long enough in one place," he added.
UTEP's location also counted in Erskine's decision to
leave NU he said. Erskine said he and his wife enjoy the
southwestern part of the U.S.
"That's exactly where I'm moving to," he said.
At UTEP, Erskine said he wUl be directly involved with
campus affairs, while at Nebraska he was not .
Erskine, a native of southeastern Alaska, graduated
from the University of Washington and worked there as a
comptroller and director of finance.
He became vice president for business affairs at the
University of Colorado before moving to Nebraska, he
said.
Erskine said working with different administrations
from each NU campus is sometimes difficult because rep
resentatives from each campus try to .stand up for their
rights.
However, Erskine said that each campus representative
has a right to try to get the best things he can for his
school.
"The people here are pretty sincere," he said.
Erskine said he could not think of anything major the
university could do to improve itself.
"The university has a good system. I have no sage
words of advice," he said.
Public outcry de-energizes nuclear power Fowler
By Mary Kempkes.
Nebraskans have a responsibility to
fight nuclear power and participate in
energy debate, according to a Lincoln
senator.
Public outcry last year prevented the
construction of a second nuclear power
plant in Ft. Calhoun, Neb and saved
Nebraska from "a financial disaster as
well as an environmental one," Steve
Fowler said last night.
Fowler addressed an anti-nuclear group,
Students for Responsible Energy, in the
Nebraska Union and said citizens should
act as if their money is invested in pro
posed power plants, because it is, he said.
Construction costs of a coal plant could
total $12 billion, he said, and each
Nebraska household would pay $2,000 to
$3,000.
Payment for power
"It's our duty to pay for power plants,"
he said. "But this brings up a big question
about future construction. We have to pay
for plants whether we use them or not."
- Utility plant planners don't provide for
consumer conservation, he said.
When you and I conserve energy, rates
don't go down. Rates per unit go up be
cause the planners did not think we would
save that much.'
Fowler said he believed the growth
rate of electrical use was declining, not
increasing as believed by some power com
panies. He also said he advocated use of a
ak alert" system such as the one used
by other states. The alert system notifies
customers via radio and TV during high
electric use periods and requests them to
curtail use until a later hour.
Uncertainty of need
When power plants are constructed
despite uncertainty of need, Fowler said,
"we enact a self-fulfilling prophecy. If
we build the plant, then we will use the
power."
Fowler came out strongly -against
nuclear power and said he spearheaded
legislation last session that would have
placed a moratorium on nuclear plant
construction in the state. The bill never
made it out of committee hearings, he
said.
Coal plants are not the answer either,
he said. Fowler recommended Nebraska's
major public power companies-Nebraska
Public Power, Omaha Public Power District
and Lincoln Electric System-begin
constructing hydroelectric, wind and solar
plants.
These alternative energy sources,
according to Fowler, would be cheaper
in the long run than coal or nuclear power
and would protect the environment,
Pr7Ar-rrrrliiHo rnmnanies should
lunviyivuuvuig r "O j
consider it their responsibility to consider from a federal tax cut, he said
conservation planning, he said.
homeowners to invest in solar energy and
insulation by offering tax cuts. Private
solaMieating investors may also pront
Energy planners
"But they've been producing energy for
so long .... that I think it's difficult for
them to see the broader role. So it's up
to the public to help them realize they're
energy planners, not just producers."
Fowler said conservation planning has
worked with other major companies in
cluding the Tennessee Valley Authority
and public utilities in Washington state.
College education has contributed to
this, he said, since through their schooling,
engineers, learn to be close-minded ab.out
alternative energy sources. Economists are
more open to suggestions, he said. Fowler
predicted! that economists will manage
energy in the future.
Although recent legislation has
encouraged private use of conservation
energy, Fowler said individual lobbying is
important.
Energy independence '
Legislation passed last session, the
Energy Independence Act, encouraged
The public is invited to attend a meeting
Oct. 1, about 1980-81 energy legislation,
a continuation of the Independence Act.
Sen. John DeCamp of Neligh chairs the
special energy committee holding the meet
ing at 9:30 ajn. in room 1113 of the
capitol building.
o
On and On and On and . . .: State Sen.
Steve Fowler responds to another
press release from his 27th District
opponent Jerry Sellentin Page 3
Feets Don't Fail Me Now: Footloose
provides toe-tappin musk for an
appreciative crowd Psge 10
A Field Is A Field: Coach Tom Osborne
said the natural grass shouldn't affect
the Huskers game this Saturday .Page 12